| Valentine's Day celebrations were not always sugar | | | | appointed spot. Within minutes of their arrival, a car |
| and spice. The early twentieth century witnessed a | | | | screeched to a halt outside the garage. Out stepped |
| blood-soaked 14 February in 1929 -- on the very day | | | | Capone's trusted six lieutenants, a few of whom were |
| that hearts elsewhere were beating to a different | | | | disguised as police officers. Mistakenly thinking it to be |
| rhythm. It remains a Black Day in the calendar of | | | | a police raid, Moran's men did as they were ordered - |
| Valentine's Day down the centuries. | | | | obediently lining up against the wall, with their backs |
| On 14 February 1929, the infamous Valentine's Day | | | | towards Capone's men. Seconds later, a volley of |
| Massacre brought the sleazy underbelly of Chicago to | | | | gunshots rent the calm and seven bodies collapsed to |
| the forefront as gang rivalry reached a bloody climax. | | | | the ground. Somehow, one man in that ill-fated group |
| Seven gangsters of the notorious George 'Bugs' | | | | just managed to survive the onslaught. He, however, |
| Moran gang were gunned down in cold blood by | | | | died on the way to the hospital without disclosing |
| members of the rival Al 'Scarface' Capone gang. | | | | anything to the frustrated police who had pinned their |
| Unbridled gang rivalry was already spattering blood on | | | | hopes of an arrest on his confession. |
| the streets of Chicago. For years, the George 'Bugs' | | | | The Valentine's Day Massacre, as the media dubbed it, |
| Moran gang and the Al 'Scarface' Capone gang had | | | | created a sensation in Chicago's crime world. The |
| been bitter rivals -- each aiming to be the undisputed | | | | news spread like wildfire and big and small gangs |
| king of the underworld. On this day that rivalry truly | | | | were compelled to acknowledge Capone as the king |
| reached a gruesome climax. | | | | of the underworld. Al Capone had covered his tracks |
| The scene of all that carnage was a seedy, | | | | well, and the police simply could not arrest him for lack |
| abandoned garage in downtown Chicago. It was Al | | | | of evidence. |
| Capone, the dreaded kingpin among gangsters, who | | | | Though he managed to escape the police net this time, |
| had masterminded the entire plan to eliminate arch rival | | | | years later he served a prison sentence for seven |
| Moran. Moran and his men fell headlong into the trap | | | | years for tax invasion! |
| laid for them, completely taken in by an effective | | | | Nevertheless, the infamous Valentine's Day Massacre |
| disguise and the bait of bootleg whiskey. | | | | made a celebrity out of Capone, making him larger |
| Seven members of Moran's gang were asked to | | | | than life to his rivals, who feared and resented him in |
| arrive at a garage of the S-M-C Cartage Company on | | | | equal measure. The incident also had all the ingredients |
| North Clark Street in Chicago. The date was 14 | | | | of a Hollywood pot-boiler -- suspense, drama, thrills and |
| February 1929. That's where the promised cheap, | | | | lots of action. Sure enough, two movies emerged from |
| bootlegged whiskey would be delivered to them. | | | | Hollywood on the subject -- "Some Like it Hot" in 1959 |
| Completely unaware that anything sinister was going | | | | and Roger Corman's successful "The St. Valentine's |
| on, the unsuspecting victims duly gathered at the | | | | Day Massacre" in 1967. |